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Monday, November 7, 2016

What Kind of Country is the United States of America?

[TRIGGER WARNING: NAZIS, WHITE SUPREMACISTS, KKK, RACISM]

Here in the U.S., I've heard a lot about election rigging in "other countries." Particularly in places like Russia, China, and the Middle East. About countries where there is a facade of democracy, where there are voting stations but they're blocked by people trying to force people to vote one way and scare away women and/or racial/religious minorities. Where it's clear that it's made difficult to impossible for poor people to make it out to vote. Where the post-vote rigging is so obvious I don't know why they even bother to let people vote at all.

These are countries where law doesn't really matter. Those in power will just walk over any laws protecting the disenfranchised because no one will stop them. In these places, laws are not concrete realities but illusions - ideas that no one has to take seriously or acknowledge. Law and order is not real.

It recently sunk in for me that the U.S. is absolutely one of those countries. We just have a stronger, thicker blanket of illusion draped over us. But that illusion is clearly breaking, thanks to white supremacists and other Trump supporters. (Though let's be real - all Trump supporters are white supremacists.)

I'm pretty sure that voting in my county is by mail-in ballot only. But if you're white and live around an area that has a high population of black, Latinx, immigrant, or Native American individuals, consider being a poll watcher watcher. Hang around voting locations and question every fellow white person you see hanging around and speaking to voters. Punch a Nazi in the face for me.

﻿Reporting in The Nation and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, based on DMV recordings provided by VoteRiders, confirmed that across the state Wisconsin was systematically failing to promptly issue IDs for voting as required by the court order. In response, Peterson ordered an investigation and held a hearing on October 12 and 13.

Kristina Boardman, the DMV’s administrator, admitted on the stand that for two months after the court’s July order, the DMV was giving voters incorrect information about the voter-ID law. “I’m very disappointed to see that the state really did nothing in response to my order,” Peterson said on October 12. “There was really, as far as I can tell, no effort made…to inform the public.” He called the DMV’s voter-ID training “manifestly inadequate” and said, “Undeniably there are people who have been disenfranchised.” He concluded, “The state really needs to step up and make sure the IDs get into the hands of voters who can’t have them [under the current system].

In his written opinion, Peterson said that “defendants have not complied with the court’s order” and “have done little to inform the general public that credentials valid for voting will be issued.” The judge ordered the state to immediately provide clearer information to voters about the law and promptly issue IDs for voting to anyone who needs one, but said “the court does not believe that it has the authority to suspend Wisconsin’s voter-ID law for the November election.” That means that, despite the well-documented problems, one of the country’s worst voter-ID laws will be in effect for November, and the very state agencies that have been non-compliant with federal-court orders will be relied upon to implement it.

THERE IS NO LAW. ORDER IS AN ILLUSION. THE ONLY THING THAT KEEPS LAW IN PLACE IS OUR WILLINGNESS TO ABIDE BY IT. PEOPLE CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT. THERE IS NO JUSTICE. THERE IS NO ACCOUNTABILITY. THERE IS NO LAW. NOTHING IS REAL.